Holidays

Mexico, What Gives ?

The year was 2001, the location Mexico. An excellent holiday (a tour of the Mayan sites in the Yucatan peninsula followed by a week in Cozumel for a spot of relaxation and diving) This page contains thumb nails of some of that trip’s photos. These were all either taken by me or Suzie.

What’s the place like then?

We went in August (When you live with a teacher, you always holiday in August) when it is very hot, 35C in the shade, about 40C in the sun by mid-day. August is rainy season so afternoons often came with some cloud and the odd distant thunder storm. Despite this we were only rained on once or twice, and not for too long.

The countryside as seen from the window of our bus, was flat and green. The entire peninsula seems to be raw jungle, with only the occasional patch cleared for a field of agave or a small village. The cleared areas for the cities and archeological sites are quite a contrast to the look of the bulk of the place.

We flew from Gatwick to Cancun on British Airways. After a 10hr flight we then spent far too long getting through customs as everyone had to have their cases disinfected and searched due to foot and mouth in the UK. We transferred to the Holiday Inn Centro in Cancun for the night.

Our tour started the next day with a visit to the coastal site at Tulum. This had beautiful views out over the Caribbean Sea, but tends to be full of hoards of tourists as it is fairly close to Cancun.That afternoon we travelled on to Coba for a sweltering walk through the jungle to look at the sites and to even climb a pyramid! If you have the energy to reach the top you are rewarded with a view of almost uninterrupted jungle as far as the eye can see. We then travelled onwards to spend the night in the Hotel Chichen in Piste.

The following day was a long journey across country to Uxmal, stopping to look at a monastery and to take lunch in an old Hacienda.We then stayed overnight in the Hacienda Hotel in Uxmal. This is situated over the road from the site, so we got up early the next morning to avoid the crowds. It is a large site with many restored buildings. Unfortunately Pete totally missed it all due to a dose of Montezuma’s Revenge!

With Pete dosed up on Immodium we then travelled on to Merida, the capital of the Yucatan. There we briefly visited the city square before being caught in an almighty downpour which left us stranded in a shop doorway for about half an hour! We then had a look around the museum before spending the next two nights at the Hotel Conquistador. Friday was free to spend at leisure, so as Pete was still feeling worse for wear we did little more than laze by the roof top pool for most of the day!

On the Saturday we headed back across country towards Chichen Itza via a Sisal factory. We stayed at the beautiful Mayaland Hotel which has several nice swimming pools set in tropical gardens.We visited the sites later that day and then went back after dark to watch the Sound and Light Show. Chichen Itza is a very impressive site with many large monuments. We were fortunate to see it late in the afternoon when many of the day trippers have left for the long drive back to Cancun.

We returned to Cancun the following day for another night in the Holiday Inn and then travelled to Cozumel on the Monday. We spent the next week relaxing, eating, drinking, diving and snorkelling "All Inclusive" at the Allegro Resort Cozumel. We ventured out to San Miguel one evening for dinner and also to the nearby Chancanab Water Park for some good snorkelling. We narrowly missed Hurricane Chantel on our way home (it was going to hit the Yucatan approx. 6hrs after our flight left.) In fact we had to be flown from Cozumel to Cancun as the ferries had all been cancelled! We finally arrived back early on Tuesday morning.

This was yet another Kuoni holiday.